The European Innovation Council (EIC) is the EU body built to back breakthrough technology and the companies that scale it. It sits inside Horizon Europe with a budget of roughly 10 billion euro for 2021 to 2027.
Grant plus equity
Its flagship, the EIC Accelerator, offers single companies a blend most public money never touches: a grant of up to 2.5 million euro plus a direct equity investment of up to 15 million euro through the EIC Fund. Pathfinder and Transition cover the earlier research stages.
For a founder the EIC is rare: patient, deep-pocketed capital that takes real technology risk where private venture capital often will not.